Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

August 3, 2013

THUMBS UP: It's that time of year again. The long summer days are starting to shorten up just a little, but there is still plenty of daylight for the Brown County Free Fair.

The Fair officially starts on Wednesday at 5 p.m., but the fairgrounds will be busy earlier this week. The Brown County 4-H Horse Show is being held today, and there will be entry deadlines for 4-H, FFA and open class exhibitors to get their livestock and other kinds of entries in place.

Lots of great entertainment is lined up, with the always popular Demolition Derbies on Wednesday and Saturday, and lots of other entertainment, including a free concert by Christian music artist Jason Gray on Thursday.

It's always a fun time at the fair. We hope everyone will go have a good time.

Legion Gold

THUMBS UP: Congratulations to the New Ulm Legion Gold baseball team, which won the Sub State 2 Legion championship in New Ulm last Sunday, and is playing in the Minnesota State American Legion championship tournament this weekend.

The Gold ran into a tough Rochester Patriots team, which took a 9-2 win Friday morning, and faced a long battle back through the losers bracket. We wish them well.

No bill, no recess?

THUMBS DOWN: Rep. Tim Walz (D-1st Dist.)?had some stern words for House Speaker John Beohner on Thursday, after Boehner sent the House home for a 5-week recess with a pile of work unfinished.

Among the unfinished work is the federal budget mess, the farm bill and major transportation and housing bills. Boehner did not appoint a farm bill conference committee delegation to hammer out the bill that has been passed by the House and Senate.

"All across southern Minnesota and across this country farmers and ranchers have been up for hours quietly going about their business of feeding, clothing, and powering the world. And here we sit, a year later, without a farm bill to give them the certainty they've asked for," Walz said on the House floor. "Now I taught sixth grade for many years, the rule in our class was you don't go to recess until you finish your work."

Walz was right, but we think Boehner has no interest in the lesson Walz was teaching.